1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and mechanisms for securing a shoe having laces on the foot of its wearer. More particularly, this invention relates to shoelaces and mechanisms for facilitating their use and closure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoelaces have been in widespread use for hundreds of years. The conventional shoelace is a smooth linear member made of cloth, leather or plastic. The shoe lace is wound through a series of holes arranged in the upper portion of the shoe so as to straddle the opening in the shoe through which the wearer's foot is inserted into or retracted from the shoe.
To use the shoelace, the foot is first inserted into the shoe. Then, the two ends of the shoelace are pulled so as to bring the openings in the shoe upper together, thereby tightening the shoe around the foot. The two ends of the shoelace are then tied so as to prevent the inadvertent loosening of the shoe.
Conventional shoelace arrangements suffer from a number of disadvantages. These include: (1) the need to tie the ends of the shoelace together, with these ties often loosening during the wearing of the shoe, (2) the inability to configure the shoe upper to the foot so as to obtain a suitably snug fit, and (3) difficulties in feeding the shoelace ends through the evermore complex, shoelace eyelet geometries being introduced to improve the fit of the shoe.
The process of tying shoelace ends together is relatively time consuming and requires a certain amount of skill and manual dexterity which is not always present in shoelace users. For example, anyone watching a young child struggle with his or her shoelaces would appreciate the complexity of the task. Similarly, many elderly and incapacitated persons with impaired vision and/or impaired manual capabilities find it difficult or impossible to negotiate the intricate maneuvering involved in tying a shoelace.
Another disadvantage of tying the shoelace ends together in the conventional manner is the tendency for the tying knot to loosen and, in some cases, to become completely undone, requiring the retying of the shoelaces. This tendency apparently is a function of the cross-sectional shape of the shoelace and its material of construction. Changes by shoemakers from shoelaces having elongated rectangular (nearly flat) to round cross-sections (primarily for aesthetic reasons), and from cotton to polyester and other slippery synthetics (primarily for economic reasons), are reported to have greatly increased the difficulties that people encounter in keeping their shoelaces tied.
As reported in the The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 28, 1998, page A1, not even professionals are immune: "Running in the November 1997 New York City Marathon, Kenyan John Kagwe had the laces on his Nike Air Streak running-shoes come untied three times. Twice he stopped to retie, and then went into a sprint to catch up with the leaders. The third time, he just kept running, with one lace flapping, and he won the race. But Mr. Kagwe missed setting a New York record by eleven seconds. His Nike laces were round nylon. "Did we screw up?" Kurt Richardson, running shoe chief at the Beaverton, Oreg. sneaker giant, asks himself. "Yes, we did." Nike Inc. decided to give Mr. Kagwe, who is paid to wear the brand, the extra ten thousand dollars he was to receive if he broke the New York record."
Many U.S. patents have been directed to providing improved fastening systems for shoelaces. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,157,813, 5,158,428, 5,335,401, 5,572,778, 5,613,283, 5,649,342, 5,657,557 and 5,852,857. Although these patents disclose a wide variety of fasteners, none of these addresses all of the disadvantages listed above.
Despite this prior art, there is a widely recognized need for an improved system for securing a laced shoe on the foot of its wearer--a system that will promote a snugger fit of the shoe, avoid the need to tie shoelace ends, eliminate unwanted shoelace loosening, and reduce shoelace lacing problems.